The cumulative impact of being overweight on women's body esteem: a preliminary study

'Teenagers are into perfect-looking things': Dating, sexual attitudes and experiences of adolescents with severe obesity

BACKGROUND

This qualitative study explored the dating and sexual health attitudes and behaviours among adolescents with severe obesity (body mass index [BMI] > 99th%) attending a multidisciplinary weight-management programme.

METHODS

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 19 participants (12 females, 7 males; M_age  = 16.8) and analysed through reflective thematic analysis.

RESULTS

Participants described polarized dating behaviours in which dating and sexual relationships were either avoided due to this not being a priority, lack of time, feared rejection, and/or body size as perceived barrier or in contrast, when approached, involved greater sexual risk.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings have numerous implications including the need for increased education on the romantic developmental challenges faced by adolescents with severe obesity, the importance of ongoing screening of high-risk sexual behaviours and body dissatisfaction from frontline care providers, and the ability to support referrals to psychosocial services when appropriate.

Cognitive and affective factors linking mothers' perceived weight history to child feeding

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

To explore whether mothers' lifetime experiences with their own weight status and related cognitive and affective factors influence child feeding behavior.

SUBJECTS/METHODS

Overweight mothers (N = 221) of 4-5 year olds recalled their weight at four time points, and were grouped into weight history trajectories: recently overweight, always overweight, and steady-gain-obese. Objective food choice behavior was assessed in a virtual reality buffet and subjective food restriction for the index child was assessed using a psychometric measure.

RESULTS

Mothers' observed food choice was not associated with weight trajectory, but mothers who spent more time being overweight and who weighed more at present were more restrictive of their child's eating. Mothers' concern about child weight increased with more time spent being overweight. Concern for child weight and mothers' body guilt differentially mediated the relationships between weight trajectories and perceived feeding restriction.

CONCLUSIONS

Considering mothers' lifetime weight experiences may suggest that parental influences on child feeding are amenable to intervention that would otherwise be obscured by static weight measures.

Life course body mass index and adolescent self-esteem: Evidence from Hong Kong's "Children of 1997" Birth Cohort

OBJECTIVE

Self-esteem is an important determinant of adolescent mental health. Prior adiposity may be a factor in the development of self-esteem. However, the association of adiposity with self-esteem is inconsistent, perhaps because adiposity and self-esteem tend to be socially patterned, making it unclear whether observed associations are biologically based or contextually specific.

METHODS

Multivariable partial least squares regression was used to assess the adjusted association of birth weight and childhood body mass index (BMI) z-score at 3 and 9 months and at 3, 7, 9 and 11 years and changes in BMI z-score with self-esteem at ∼11 years, assessed from the self-reported Culture Free Self-Esteem Inventory in a population-representative Chinese birth cohort, which has little social patterning of adiposity. Whether the associations varied by sex also was assessed.

RESULTS

Self-esteem score was available for 6,520 girls and boys (78.5% follow-up). Birth weight z-score, BMI z-scores at 3 and 9 months and at 3, 7, 9, and 11 years, and successive BMI z-score changes had little association with self-esteem at ∼11 years, adjusted for socio-economic position.

CONCLUSIONS

In a developed, non-Western setting, life course BMI does not appear to be a factor in the development of self-esteem in early adolescence, suggesting that observed associations to date may be contextually specific rather than biologically based.

Body esteem in Chinese adolescents: Effect of gender, age, and weight

This study examined the associations of body esteem with gender, age, and Body Mass Index (BMI) among 905 Hong Kong adolescents using the Body-Esteem Scale (BES). Older age, male gender and lower BMI were associated with better body esteem. Multiple regression analyses indicated significant main effects of gender, age and weight on BES-Total. Significant interaction effects of gender × BMI and gender × age × BMI were also found on BES-Weight (beta = −0.149, p = .028) and BES-Total (beta = −0.139, p = .044). Improvement of body esteem with age may be associated with age-related BMI differences.

Is being overweight associated with behavioural problems in childhood and adolescence? Findings from the Mater-University study of pregnancy and its outcomes

AIMS

To examine the associations between being overweight and behavioural problems at ages 5 and 14.

METHODS

Birth cohort study of 2875 individuals who were born in Brisbane between 1981 and 1984 and who were followed up at ages 5 and 14 years. Behavioural problems were defined as scoring above the 90th centile on Achenbach's child behavioural checklist.

RESULTS

In cross-sectional analyses there was no association between being overweight and behavioural problems in either females at age 5. At age 14 females who were overweight were more likely than those who were normal weight to experience behavioural problems. However, there was no association between being overweight and behavioural problems at age 14 among males. The prevalence of behavioural problems increased linearly across the distribution of body mass index in females at age 14. In prospective analyses, among participants who had no behavioural problems at age 5, there was no association between being overweight at age 5 and behavioural problems at age 14 in either sex. Females who were overweight at age 5 and normal weight at age 14 had reduced odds of behavioural problems at age 14.

CONCLUSIONS

Among adolescent females there is a positive linear association between body size and behavioural problems. However, no such association was found in adolescent males, or in either sex at age 5 years, and in prospective analyses being overweight at age 5 was not associated with behavioural problems in either sex at age 14.